Effect of Neisseria gonorrhea Infection on Gene Expression of p53 and cIAP2 Genes in Cervical Cancer

Abstract

Background: Neisseria gonorrhoeae (N. gonorrhea) is one of the most common bacterial infections causing health problems in the epithelial lining of the cervix. Previous studies did not adequately address its role in cervical cancer (CEC), therefore, the current study aimed to determine the impact of N. gonorrhea infection on gene expression of p53 and cIAP2 in CEC. Materials and Methods: samples were collected from 20 women suffering from cervical cancer with N. gonorrhea infection (CC-NG), and 20 women who had cervical cancer without N. gonorrhea infection (CC) and 40 healthy women as the control group. N. gonorrhea diagnosis was done by Modified Thayer-Martin (MTM) agar and gram stain. Gene expression of p53 and cIAP2 was carried out using real-time PCR. Results: P53 and cIAP2 genes had high molecular expression (folding change) in CC-NG (17.172 and 31.135 respectively) and CC (16.02 and 15.45 respectively) compared to healthy control (1.00) (P>0.05). Moreover, when the expression of both genetic indicators was compared to each other an increase in gene transcription in the cases of CC-NG compared to CC was observed. The antibiotic resistance pattern for the tested Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains was as follows: to ceftriaxone (100%), penicillin (96%), amoxicillin (90%), tetracycline (89%) and ciprofloxacin (77%) but low to cefixime (4%), spectinomycin (5%) and azithromycin (9 2%). Conclusion: N. gonorrhea infection can be determine as risk factor for CEC development.